Fragrance and Melody 99 



the trees that greet the new season with leafage 

 and grow into hospitable shade, these are transi 

 tory, but the pines and hemlocks endure and bear 

 from year to year, in all seasons, the promise of 

 eternity. They are commercially nothing but 

 cord wood, or a little timber, but to the lover of 

 Nature they embody the will of everlasting life. 



To lie upon the side of a wooded ravine, at the 

 edge of the forest, and behold the great trees sway 

 ing and tossing in the warm breeze, bending far 

 east and revolting far west, as each passing gust 

 passes by ; to breathe these odours, and to mark 

 the sunshine swell down the long aisles of the 

 woods or repose in the opening of the field ; to 

 follow the hawk s sailing flight above all the woods 

 and despite the wind ; to watch the labouring crows 

 and hear their social and sagacious conversation ; 

 to hear the curious cry of the scarlet tanager, or 

 the slight, solemn warble of the wood thrush, or 

 the rich and insistent note of the Baltimore oriole, 

 so noble a note, with its melancholy tone ; to 

 do this, is to raise the question whether any heaven 

 that can be imagined could be more beautiful 

 than earth. But in truth, the answer is ready 

 enough. In the life beyond, as in this, the soul 

 will seek and find its own. If there are not the 

 particular beauties and charms and associations 

 which have made this life precious and desirable, 



